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Tuesday, 24 November 2015

Bugs. We need to talk about
bugs. I think we’re all willing to cut open world games a little
slack when it comes to bugs. And that’s especially true for a
Bethesda game. I expected Fallout 4 to have its fair share of bugs,
but I didn’t expect it to be the most shoddy Bethesda release I’ve
played.

And the fact is, with
Fallout 4, Bethesda really needed to step up their game. For
comparison, I put over 120 hours into The Witcher 3, yet I only
experienced 2-3 crashes. Whereas with Fallout 4, in the 90 hours I’ve
played, I’ve actually lost count of the times it’s randomly
closed to desktop.

Most of the bugs I’ve
encountered have proven more amusing than irritating (some of the
animation bugs are so f**king hilarious I nearly shat myself
laughing), but there’s been plenty of irritating issues too. The
most serious issue is a bug that caused me to crash whenever I
ventured near a certain area of the map. Several core quests require
you to pass through this specific area, essentially breaking my game.

Fortunately, as I was
playing on PC, I was able to use the in-game console to ‘cheat’
my way around the area and complete the effected quests. But a bug
this serious and apparently widespread should have been caught before
release. (And at the time of writing, it’s still not fixed).My patience and the slack I’m willing to grant Bethesda
only goes so far. Fallout 4 pushed it to the limit and beyond.

Even after completing the
game, I’ve hit another potentially game breaking issue with my
companions, who keep vanishing into thin air whenever I fast travel.
Even using the console, I can’t seem to get them to reappear until
I dismiss them by recruiting a new companion. But attempting to
re-recruit the previous companion seems to cause the new companion to
vanish. You couldn’t make this shit up.

You might think I’m
bitterly disappointed by Fallout 4, but that’s not really the case.
Despite the serious bugs and issues, I still enjoyed the overall
experience. It’s a tricky game to recommend, especially in its
current state. But it’s a game I see myself sinking a lot more time
into, especially as mods begin to roll out which will fix, enhance
and refine various aspects of the game.

Although I feel Fallout 4
takes some good steps forward, it also takes several back. If you’ve
read my initial impressions post, you’ll know my feelings were
somewhat mixed. And those feelings haven’t really changed. But
let’s start with all the good stuff, shall we?

Although the bugs are an
issue, I couldn’t fault the technical performance, with a solid
60FPS on Ultra settings. This is probably helped by the fact that
Fallout 4 isn’t the most demanding title from a graphical
standpoint. As I said in my initial impressions, Fallout 4 is best
described as ‘visually inconsistent’. Depending on the area, the
lighting or the time of day, Fallout 4 can either look fantastic or
look like utter ass.

Animation quality is
improved over previous Bethesda titles, but it still feels like I had
better animation mods for Skyrim. Of course, things like graphics and
animations will likely be improved through mods. In fact, I can see
mods significantly improving many areas of this game. Unfortunately,
I’m not reviewing what mods may do, but rather what we’ve got.

In terms of exploration,
Fallout 4 has a decent variety of locations and environments. The
urban wasteland areas are great to explore and far superior to
comparable areas in Fallout 3 or New Vegas. This feels like a far
more interesting and diverse world to explore than those titles. As
someone who primarily enjoys these games for the random exploration,
I’m pleased that it remains a compelling facet of this series.

Something I feel Fallout 4
also does better than FO3 or NV is companion characters. Although
their pathfinding is as wonky as ever, I loved the way your
companions interact with the world around you, even stepping in
during quest related conversations to voice their opinion. For the
first time in a Bethesda game, I actually wanted to traverse the
world with a companion at my side. Yes, it meant putting up with
their irritating habits – such as getting stuck on scenery, or
stepping into my line of fire – but it now felt worth the trouble.

Another area the game
surprised me was its main story and quests. I wouldn’t say Fallout
4 hits the mark in the same way New Vegas did, especially not in
writing, dialogue or choices, but it’s still pretty good. I
actually enjoyed following the various quest lines throughout the
game. I felt there was a point when the main story got a bit stupid,
but it didn’t detract too much from the overall narrative.

There are three primary
factions in the game who you can link up with – the Brotherhood of
Steel, the Railroad and the Institute. Having played through every
core mission for each faction to see how things go, I’d recommend
choosing either the Brotherhood or Railroad and sticking with them if
you want the most enjoyable paths. There is another faction in the
game – the Minutemen – but they tie more into the settlement
management element than the core story, so we’ll get back to them
later.

Each of these factions
offer multiple variations of repeatable quests. So much in fact, that
it’s initially hard to tell which are the ‘core’ missions and
which are not. Although I appreciate these types of quests for
pushing the player to explore new locations (usually to kill stuff or
retrieve an item) they quickly get a little tedious and repetitive.
They also seriously drown out the ‘unique’ side missions.

Despite the time I’ve put
into the game and the locations I’ve explored (over 200), there
feels like a serious shortage of unique side quests. Maybe I’ve
just not stumbled across them all yet, or maybe it just feels like a
shortage because of the overwhelming number of repeatable quests the
game keeps throwing at you – I’m looking at you, Preston Garvey.
The ones I have found, however, have been a bit of a mixed bag. Some
are decent, fairly elaborate and provide a satisfying pay off.
Others…not so much. (EDIT – I checked a list of side quests and
discovered I’d only missed a couple, which is pretty
disappointing).

Weapon and armour variety
and modification is also something of a mixed bag. Weapon variety is
good. Armour variety is not. Weapon modification is great. Armour
modification is a bit pants. When I heard that Fallout 4 was finally
introducing a modular amour system I was quite pleased, as it seemed
it was taking inspiration from some excellent mods for Fallout 3 and
Skyrim. But Bethesda have only half-cooked it, with an extremely
limited selection of outfits you can customise, with an extremely
limited variety of armour pieces.

And then we have the
settlement management aspect. I both f**king loved and hated this
system. Early in the game you’ll rescue some folks and begin to
unlock missions which will secure various settlements across the map.
This is the Minutemen stuff I was talking about. Although I didn’t
mind doing one quest per new settlement, there comes a point where
you’re given repeatable quests to help existing settlements,
sometimes the same settlement twice in a row.

It gets really f**king
irritating, especially when that Preston twat can give you quests
even if you’re not speaking directly to him. There were times when
I was using a workstation and he just strolled up and dropped a new
quest in my log. Seriously, Preston, f**k off. I hope there will be a
mod that turns this shit off. It also makes being the ‘General’
of the Minutemen seem completely ridiculous. Can’t I send someone
else to deal with this tedious bullshit? Like Preston, maybe? Why
don’t you go and do it for once you useless…yeah, as you can
probably tell I really
hated the settlement quest system.

Which is annoying, because
I actually liked the settlement management a lot. Being able to build
all kinds of structures, place furniture, establish farms, stores and
defences…I’m addicted to it, I must admit. It’s a shame my
‘main’ settlements never get attacked due to their high defence
rating. That’s kind of boring, but mods will likely fix that too.
The UI is a bit of a fiddly mess, and assigning settlers to various
roles is a total nightmare, especially when they just decide to
ignore you. But despite those issues, I just can’t get enough of
it.

Returning to more ‘core’
aspects of Fallout 4, let’s talk about the new dialogue system.
It’s shit. There’s not much else to say. It’s so vague that you
never know exactly what your character will say. Yes, there’s
already a mod to fix that, but I’m not reviewing the mods,
remember? I don’t see why Bethesda couldn’t have included the
same option.

But even if you know what
the full dialogue will be, it’s so limited compared to say, New
Vegas. Which I suppose is the result of using a voiced protagonist. I
don’t hate it, but I can’t deny it severely reduces the dialogue
system. There’s less options, less variety and less complexity in
terms of speech checks.

Whereas you might expect
dialogue skill tests based around your charisma, intelligence or
strength stats for example, or even based around specific skills in
guns, medicine or explosives, all you get in Fallout 4 is a shit
colour coded ‘success’ chance to persuade or intimidate. And it
doesn’t even tell you what the percentage chance is. Compared to
New Vegas, and even Fallout 3, it’s a load of old wank. As I said
in my initial impressions, I don’t like the term ‘dumb down’,
but it feels entirely appropriate here.

This also feeds into the
skills system, which is now based entirely around Perks in your
S.P.E.C.I.A.L tree. I didn’t hate this either, but it’s still a
reduction on what the previous games in this series offered. It’s
simply not as good. And this reduction of dialogue and skills makes
Fallout 4 feel less like an open world RPG and more like an open
world FPS.

I think that’s going to
prove a divisive matter for many players. For many, it may just be a
step too far. Personally, I’m torn on the matter, because despite
my issues with the dialogue and skills system, I really didn’t
hate them. I can live with them, even though I wish they were handled
more like the previous games. It’s such a shame because Fallout 4
has some pretty engaging quests and characters, but it then severely
reduces the way in which you can interact with these elements.

Many quests also simply
revolve around shooting things. It’s rare I came across a situation
I could resolve without a massive fire fight. And if you’re
expecting multiple endings based on choices or which faction you
choose to side with, you will
be disappointed. Because unlike New Vegas, which handled that aspect
pretty well, Fallout 4 just doesn’t bother.

Fallout 4 is a tricky game
to recommend, but even more so to score. For every moment I was
absorbed by the action, I was pissed off at experiencing another
crash. For every time I was surprised and pleased by my companion
becoming involved in my quest, I was irritated when they bugged out
and got stuck on the scenery. I loved the settlement management, but
I hated the repetitive settlement quests.

The dialogue and skills
system feels like a reduction to what the series previously offered.
And though I enjoyed exploring the world, I didn’t discover enough
unique quests or encounters to satisfy me. I liked the main story and
faction quests, but they lack complexity compared to New Vegas in the
way they all tie together. They’re also disappointing in the sense
that when you do eventually choose a faction, they all devolve into a
simplistic ‘you must now murder everyone else’ situation, even
when that doesn’t make much sense.

So where does that leave
Fallout 4? Well, despite all my issues with it, I can’t deny I
enjoyed Fallout 4. I know I’m going to keep playing it, keep
building my settlements, and when patches and mods begin to arrive in
full force, I’ll undoubtedly sink a lot more time into the game
than I already have. But could I recommend it in its current state?
No. Not yet. I might be willing to forgive its flaws and issues, but
that doesn’t mean I think they’re acceptable. One thing is
certain – Bethesda needs to step up its game.

Friday, 20 November 2015

Monday, 16 November 2015

It’s a Bethesda game!
That’s what I said when the NPC I was speaking with suddenly winked out of
existence. It’s what I said when I spent a
few minutes trying to figure out where a quest related NPC had gone,
only to realise they’d somehow gotten stuck on an inaccessible
rooftop. It’s what I said when my weapons suddenly became invisible
and a truck fell out of the sky.

Buying a Bethesda game on
release? You’ve either got to be very brave, or very stupid. Mostly
stupid. Fortunately, most of these bugs and glitches are more amusing
than irritating and can usually be solved by a save/reload or by
exiting the area. What wasn’t so amusing was when my 25 hour save
corrupted and crashed my game on every restart. Fortunately I had a
back-up. It’s a Bethesda game – always have a back-up.

Unfortunately, those
solutions didn’t solve another game breaking issue – every time I
venture near a particular location, my game crashes. Something of a
problem considering several quests pass through the area. I’ve had
to use console commands more than once to cheat my way around it. It
appears to be a common problem from what I’ve seen online. They
better patch that shit asap.

I’ve now sunk 60 hours
into Fallout 4. I’ve explored over 150 locations, I’m just shy of
Level 33 and I’ve completed numerous quests. So I figured it was
time to drag myself away and write up my initial impressions. I must
admit, I didn’t go into Fallout 4 with the highest of expectations.
I was sure I’d enjoy it. For all the issues I had with Fallout 3
and Skyrim, I still put hundreds of hours into those titles.

In many ways, Fallout 4 is
exactly what I expected it to be. But I’m also pleased to say that
it’s actually surpassed my expectations in areas I didn’t expect.
The game opens with a character editor which is easily the best
Bethesda have yet released. What follows is a short ‘prologue’
which builds to your introduction into the wasteland.

The initial few hours of
Fallout 4 aren’t its best. Although I liked the opening prologue,
the ‘starting’ area is rather bland to look at and not
particularly interesting to explore. I limited myself to the
north-west area of the map, but very few locations proved worth the
time or trouble to investigate, and the only quests I was being
offered were repetitive settlement related missions.

Eventually, however, I
pushed south into the urban wasteland. And that’s when the game
really began to come to life. Although I can’t say the writing and
dialogue is all that fantastic, the game already has far more
character and charm to its world, people and quests than either
Fallout 3 or Skyrim. The quest/character aspects were the two biggest
areas I really wasn’t expecting much from, but they’ve actually
left me pleasantly surprised.

I can honestly say I’m
having fun with the quests in Fallout 4. I feel invested in what I’m
doing and why. It’s strange, because I expected to enjoy Fallout 4
more for the random exploration element, but instead, I’m actually
enjoying it more by following the various quest lines. That said, I’m
still only a little way into the ‘main’ quest so there’s still
a lot to see and do. Hopefully it holds my interest all the way
through.

Okay, it’s time to talk
about the dialogue system. I’m not that bothered by the voiced
protagonist, but the dialogue ‘wheel’ is pretty shit. A lot of
the time it’s rather vague with its options so you never really
know what your character is going to say. It also totally ruins the
‘speech check’ aspect with a silly colour-coded ‘success’
chance to persuade or intimidate. I don’t know why the dialogue
system was changed when it was perfectly fine as it was.

But this ties into another
major issue. With a voiced protagonist and vague dialogue options,
you don’t really feel like you’re playing as your ‘own’
character. As much as you might ‘build’ one character to be
different from another in terms of stats, there’s not enough
flexibility or complexity to the dialogue options to really forge a
unique personality.

You could argue that this
time around you’re essentially playing as an ‘established’
character, but that’s hardly the case at all. All the dialogue
responses in Fallout 4 are generally short, bland and personality
free. As a result, Fallout 4 feels less like an RPG than perhaps it
should.

This is also true of the
quests. The vast majority of the quests I’ve played have nearly
entirely revolved around ‘go to location – KILL EVERYTHING’. To
be fair, I’ve had a few non-combat related quests, and I was even
able to talk my way out of a potential ‘boss’ fight using the
shitty colour-coded dialogue options. But still, Fallout 4 feels more
like a open-world FPS than an RPG. Fortunately, the FPS aspect is
much improved.

With a few tweaks to combat
with regards to movement and aiming and the introduction of a cover
system, Fallout 4 has some pretty enjoyable action. It’s even more
fun when random NPCs get involved leading to entirely free-form
‘set-piece’ style moments. And that’s in addition to some
rather enjoyable scripted set-pieces as part of quests.

V.A.T.S is no longer a
combat ‘pause’ more a ‘slow down’ which I’m a little torn
on, as it forces you to make quick decisions regarding targeting,
especially when dealing with fast moving enemies. The result? I’ve
rarely used it because I’ve found it less dangerous and more
efficient to target things manually. The new system doesn’t really
enhance the combat experience. If anything, I feel it detracts from
it.

There have also been
changes to the level and perk systems. Everything is now tied to your
S.P.E.C.I.A.L stats, with multiple ranks per perk. Once again, it
sees Fallout 4 shift even more from an RPG to an FPS with ‘upgrade
points’. Although I didn’t mind the new system, I can see
problems arising in terms of replay value, because like the dialogue
options, it’s a reduced system that doesn’t allow for such
extensive character customisation.

At only level 24 or so, I
was already hacking or picking ‘Master’ locks and terminals
despite only a handful of points in the corresponding perk trees. I’m
not fond of the term ‘dumb down’, but in the case of Fallout 4’s
dialogue and skill systems, it seems entirely appropriate.

I can see this shift away
from RPG style dialogue and stats is going to be a serious issue for
many. Combined with a heavy emphasis on combat, and Fallout 4 is
moving ever closer to something like the Far Cry series, at least in
terms of gameplay. Fortunately, from what I’ve seen so far, Fallout
4 has
improved in the areas of characters and quests. But it does feel a
little like one step forward, two steps back.

One element of the game I
just have to cover is the settlement management. I’ve probably put
something like 20 hours into this aspect of the game alone. Despite
its irritatingly fiddly menu system, it’s a system I’ve become
sadly addicted to. It’s like playing The Sims crossed with
Minecraft as you scrap and build various structures, furniture and
items in the world. It’s a system with surprising depth, allowing
for a nice degree of creativity. The only downside to this system
(aside from the UI) is the Settler AI, who sometimes get stuck on
scenery or simply refuse to do the jobs you assign.

Speaking of AI, enemy AI is
better in the sense that they’ll toss grenades your way or take
cover, but still dumb in the sense that jumping on an object barely a
foot off the ground will totally baffle them. And then we have the
companions, who like to step in front of you just as you’re
throwing a grenade, causing it to bounce back and hit you in the
face. Or they get stuck on something and run against it on the spot.
Because of course they do.

What I do appreciate is how
your companions interact with the world, other NPCs and even comment
on what you’re doing, or give opinions related to your current
quest. It’s much better than endlessly recycled ‘stock’
phrases, although I’m sure there’s a limit to it. But from what
I’ve seen, Fallout 4 has a pretty neat and varied selection of
characters to travel with, and will likely prove to be a highlight of
the experience. If only they could fix their bloody pathfinding.

What else? I really like
the weapon modification system, although I’m concerned by what
feels like a very limited variety of armour and armour modifications.
Hopefully, there’s a lot more to come. Oh, and though I like the
settlement management, it does feel kind of pointless. They’ve made
it so ‘optional’ for the player, that they’ve also rendered it
largely redundant. It’s still f**king fun, though.

Graphics! During the day,
when outside, Fallout 4 can look great! But at night, and in certain
interior environments, it looks like f**king ass. It’s flat, ugly
and it frankly doesn’t look a lot better than a modded Fallout 3.
It’s visually inconsistent, to say the least. Some areas look
fantastic, others look like shit. But I’m sure there will be mods
to tweak/improve the visuals so it’s not a major issue.

Aside from the expected bugs
and glitches, technical performance is fairly solid. I’ve got
everything set to Ultra and I maintain a stable 60FPS, although in
some areas it can dip a little, but it’s only temporary.

Okay, time to wrap this up.
Fallout 4 will likely prove divisive based on what I’ve played. But
personally, I’m quite enjoying it despite my issues and the
occasional bug/glitch. My main concern is replay value with such a
limited dialogue/skill system. And I’m yet to see a good 60% or so
of the map. I hope the southern wasteland areas are far more
interesting than the north. The urban stuff is great though.

I’m also concerned a
little by the lack of proper unique side quests, but we’ll see how
that goes. I don’t expect to have a review up until late
November/early December. In the meantime, I’m sure I can put up a
few related filler posts. Just remember – it’s a
Bethesda game!

Thursday, 5 November 2015

System Shock 2 is one of,
if not my favourite game of all time. But I never played the
original, not until many years after the release of SS2.
Unfortunately, there were numerous compatibility issues with the
version I had which prevented me from progressing beyond the first
level. So when this ‘enhanced’ edition of System Shock was
released, I just had to pick it up. This was the first time I’ve
played System Shock to completion. It’s also, I must admit,
probably going to be the last.

Now, don’t get the wrong
idea. System Shock is a decent game. But everything System Shock
does, System Shock 2 does better. Far
better. My primary
issues with System Shock are its level design and mission structure.
I’ve seen SS1 praised for its complexity of level design, but I’d
argue thatconvoluted
is a more apt description.

The level design in SS2 is
fantastic. Every deck has a logic to its layout with regards to the
overall structure of the ship. Every location and corridor has a
consistency to design and an obvious purpose. As you traverse the
ship, it feels like a real place. Sadly, I can’t say the same about
SS1.

Every level of SS1 feels
more like a maze. Aside from the odd section, the majority of each
deck doesn’t serve any purpose, or adhere to an overall cohesive
structure. There’s a lot of corridors/service ducts which lead
nowhere or simply loop back on themselves. There’s a lot of empty
rooms and pointless ramps or raised blocks/pillars. There’s gravity
elevators in strange positions, and rooms with bizarre platform
puzzles.

As a result, none of it
feels like a real place, where people once lived or worked. There’s
no logic to its layout, and no consistency in terms of design between
decks. With all the looping corridors, ramps and gravity elevators it
honestly feels more like a Quake or Unreal multiplayer map.

To make matters worse,
there’s also little in the way of obvious landmarks to get your
bearings as you attempt to navigate this needlessly convoluted maze.
It’s not challenging as such – more tedious. And this leads us
directly into my second major issue – mission structure.

In SS2, your objectives are
always very clear. Not just in terms of where you must go and what
you must do, but also why.
SS1, however, is vague in every respect. On each level you’ll be
searching for audio logs. These provide clues as to what you should
be doing to progress. This is why it’s very important to fully
explore every deck – if you miss a log or two, you may also miss a
key piece of information.

But even once you have all
the logs and a rough notion of where you should be going and what
you’re supposed to do, the game doesn’t give a very good sense of
why.
I was very thorough in terms of collecting the logs and exploring
every deck, but even so, there were a lot of times when I just didn’t
get why
I was supposed to be doing something or how it would enable me to
progress. I didn’t understand the logic behind certain actions, and
I frequently found myself backtracking through levels trying to
figure out what I’d missed.

The game doesn’t do a
very good job of putting a clear set of objectives before the player.
A lot of the time, you’ll only have a vague notion of exactly what
you’re supposed to be doing or why. You’ll be stumbling your way
through objectives, without ever quite being sure that what you’re
doing is right. It’s something that improves as the game
progresses, but it’s still rather frustrating, and it significantly
weakens the narrative aspects of the game.

Exploration is hampered
somewhat by the UI and controls. Even with the addition of mouselook
and key mapping, SS1 is a fiddly game to play. It’s not too bad
once you become familiar with the hotkeys for switching between
various tabs of the interface, but compared to SS2, you feel like
you’re struggling more against the UI and controls than anything
the game can throw at you.

The enemies of SS1 don’t put up much of
a fight. Weapons and ammo are fairly plentiful, (for reference, I
played on the Normal difficulty) and the only times I really ran into
trouble was on the occasions when the game spawned a large number of
enemies practically right on top of me – which felt more cheap than
challenging.

Graphically, SS1 still
looks okay. Some areas hold up better than others. Although the game
lacks a consistency to design, it still has some striking
environments to explore. In terms of sound, the music seemed to kick
in and out at odd moments, which I think might be a bug. Combat would
occasionally be completely silent, although admittedly, that was
preferable at times as the looping tracks grew rather repetitive.

Like SS2, the best thing
about SS1 is SHODAN and your interactions with this devious AI.
Unfortunately, this interaction is limited to odd messages sprinkled
throughout the game. Combat is basic as is enemy AI. There’s little
to differentiate the enemies or how to tackle them. The weapon
selection is decent, but there’s a lack of variety in terms of how
they handle.

As I’ve already said,
everything SS1 does, SS2 does far better. In terms of story,
environments, missions, enemies, weapons and controls, SS1 is rather
basic compared to its sequel. Whereas SS2 still holds up solidly
today in terms of its mechanics…SS1 – not so much.

Upon release, I can see why
so many aspects of SS1 would have been considered impressive. But SS2
took those aspects and refined and improved them so much that it’s
hard to recommend SS1 over its sequel. I still had some fun playing
it through, and there are some genuinely well designed sections, but
it’s not a game I can honestly say I feel any great desire to ever
play again.